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Carlebach's Music
A Musical Idea
There's a little tear in every song,
don't wipe it, it's my gift to you.
There's a little dance in every note,
dance with it
until we all dance together in the streets of Jerusalem.
(Shlomo Carlebach in a booklet accompanying one of his albums)
Carlebach wrote and composed hundreds of songs and melodies. Some say even 1,000 or more.
Not all are known and famous. Some are genuinely cantorial pieces, others are integrated with storytelling segments, among them some known only to a limited audience of enthusiastic fans, those who collect every scrap of information about him, every recording and every melody that was never published.
His greatest hits, songs that captured Jewish hearts in Israel and throughout the world, are the basis for the public recognition he received in his lifetime.
These include about 50 songs from his early albums, which he composed and performed, and which have distinct characteristics. They represent his unique style and are the core songs from which modern Hasidic music developed.
Carlebach's songs differ from the songs of the other musical genres, from their familiar standard.
In a standard, familiar song, in all languages and all other genres – there's orderly verbal content based on a logical progression: Word after word, sentence after sentence. There is a verse and a chorus. There is an orderly melody that moves forward, from word to word, from sentence to sentence. Without unnecessary stretching of syllables and sounds.
A professional musician who composes a standard song would not dare to offer a melody that does not sit well with the lyrics. If he did, it would indicate his lack of professionalism.
With Carlebach, this happens. With him, as in all Hasidic songs, there are words and there is a melody, but the connection between them doesn't adhere to such standards or patterns.
The musical style in Carlebach's songs often sounds simple and commonplace:
Each song is based on one or two verses taken from Jewish holy scriptures, and a short, catchy melody played with guitar accompaniment. Usually, the melody is based on single chords, almost always the same chords.
It does not have the pattern of a standard song. It is a song without a verse and chorus, it contains no words written by a lyricist or poet, with a beginning and an end and a complex connection between sentences.
Usually, it has a limited number of words, two or three sentences, and that's it. To fill the customary time frame for a song – more or less three minutes – the melody is "stretched" over several notes that linger on a single word. The same words are repeated over and over, progressing one word at a time... a little "oy oy oy" is added, and a little "la la la," and then back to the words and melody, until the musical frame is filled, and time runs out. Applause, and then on to the next song, or the next track on the record or disc.
Those with a keen ear can try a musical pastime:
Take a Carlebachian melody from one song, and adapt it to other verses pulled randomly from prayers, the Tanakh, or the Talmud. They will discover that the melody will fit together with the new text. In any case, there is no absolute coordination between syllable and sound, and every syllable in every word can receive several sounds.
And one can always add "oy oy oy" and "la la la" to fill in the gaps.
Musicologists and professionals in the field will explain that there is no musical sophistication in these songs.
In their professional formulation, they will say that in Carlebach's songs, the sounds move within a fixed range in minor scales between two octaves, and the accompaniment relies on three or four guitar chords, at most.
This does not convince Carlebach song enthusiasts.
Simplicity? Lack of sophistication? They are not engaged in professional analysis, they do not count the chords and do not delve into the musical structure. They connect to the song because of their religious and cultural background, because the melody is pleasing to their ears and the song "does it for them." It provides the experience the creator longed to give them.
Carlebach, or a singer singing Carlebach, and anyone joining in the singing, prepare in advance to perform the work as part of their religious and spiritual existence. For them, every word and every verse has a sacred value, because they are taken from "holy scriptures." Therefore, the entire package is a sacred musical product that must be treated with respect, approached seriously, and engaged with all senses.
This is the "Hasidic Dvekut" (devotion/cleaving) from which Carlebach drew his style and compositions, and from him onwards... modern Hasidic music continued and spread its wings and became a genre in itself.
"Carlebach style" is a musical idea.
Its strength and power rely on the combination of the catchy melody and the verse chosen by the creator, which contains words with meaning that touches the heart and soul, and carries a religious or spiritual moral lesson.
Here are some such verses from which Carlebach made a song, each a song in itself:
* ׁׁׁׁׁI lift my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.
(אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי אֶל הֶהָרִים, מֵאַיִן יָבוֹא עֶזְרִי. עֶזְרִי מֵעִם ה' עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ.ׂ)
* And they all accept upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of heaven one from another.
(וְכֻלָּם מְקַבְּלִים עֲלֵיהֶם עֹל מַלְכוּת שָׁמַיִם זֶה מִזֶּה).
* Had not Your Torah been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
(לוּלֵי תוֹרָתְךָ שַׁעֲשֻׁעָי אָז אָבַדְתִּי בְעָנְיִי).
And many more verses and sayings with lyrical content that find their place in the listener's soul.
Carlebach's uniqueness was expressed in his creative ability to pull out "the right words" and connect them with a melody that "catches the ear."
For example, the verse: ""וּבָאוּ הָאוֹבְדִים מֵאֶרֶץ אַשּׁוּר וְהַנִּדָּחִים מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַה' בְּהַר הַקֹּדֶשׁ בִּירוּשָׁלִָים" ("And the lost in the land of Assyria and the dispersed in the land of Egypt shall come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem") - could have remained a biblical verse from the prophecies of the prophet Isaiah, until Carlebach arrived. He was endowed with the talent to find precisely these words and adapt them to the period in which the song became popular – the years of the struggle for the liberation of Soviet Jews.
In an instant, the song took on national significance: behold, the vision is coming true, and the lost Jews are coming from other lands to the holy city of Jerusalem.
"Lulei Toratcha Sha'ashu'ay Az Avadeti Ve'onyi"
for direct viewing - click here
"Uvau HaOvdim Me'eretz Ashur VehaNidachim Me'eretz Mitzrayim"
for direct viewing - click here
To Carlebach's original performances were added his personal charisma, the passion he brought to the song, his unique voice, and the "show" he gave his listeners.
All these disappeared after his death, along with his original legacy.
In their place, there are many cover versions that represent the transformation that occurred in his singing – it's no longer quite Carlebach. It's more Hasidic/religious/faith-based. This is a stylistic development that takes away the song's original ideas and the creator's intentions.
Historical Fragments
The Carlebachian idea is not original.
Carlebach did not invent it, but he upgraded it and combined the past with the present.
He was preceded by Hasidic rebbes and their followers in Europe, who set words from holy scriptures to melodies. They composed the tunes themselves or adopted melodies from Slavic, Gypsy, and Russian peoples.
This combination, called a "niggun" (Hasidic melody), was heard sung by many around set tables at Hasidic gatherings like the "Tish" at the Rebbe's court. When the rebbes and their followers immigrated from Europe in the early 20th century, they brought with them the niggunim that were an integral part of their daily life, to their communities in America and Israel.
Carlebach, who frequented Hasidic courts and rebbes in the United States, and was their emissary for drawing Jews closer to Judaism, knew well the niggunim that were a significant tool in their Jewish toolbox.
Carlebach's uniqueness lay in the way he made the niggunim accessible to the young Jewish audience, the generation that emerged after the destruction of Jewish communities in Europe during the Holocaust.
When he began to learn guitar, he was exposed to American music that was heard in the 1950s. His ears heard American Folk songs – country songs, blues styles, and soul songs, which emanated from radios, records, and the mouths of singers and bands.
He was particularly captivated by Gospel music – religious songs intended to express personal or public faith and devotion to a "Christian life." Gospel was created to provide a Christian religious alternative to secular popular music.
Gospel served as a source of inspiration for Carlebach to create parallel music within Judaism.
He synthesized the idea with the old niggunim from the Jewish shtetl – he chose a verse from holy scriptures that spiritually inspired him, and set its words to the style of European niggunim that drew inspiration from the peoples around them.
Thus, a musical product was created consisting of a religious text that could penetrate the hearts of Jewish believers and provide them with a musical religious experience, just like the good old niggun from the Hasidic courts. They can sing it and feel a spiritual experience.
Oh... Sinnerman!
Carlebach's legacy, which emerged in the decades after his death, ignores Carlebach's original repertoire from the 1960s and 1970s.
This repertoire included distinct gospel songs, which he performed for his audience worldwide, including in Israel. One of them was the song "Sinnerman," which he used to perform in almost every concert, and even recorded it on one of his early albums.
"Sinnerman" is a traditional African American spiritual song recorded by several artists and incorporated into many other media and arts. The lyrics describe a sinner trying to hide from divine justice on Judgment Day. The most famous performance of the song was by the African American singer Nina Simone, who had professional and romantic ties with Carlebach.
Nina Simone sang in a style that sounded closer to the spirit of African American spirituals.
Carlebach's performance was more similar to that of "The Weavers" band, in an arrangement that sounded closer to Spanish/Gypsy music.
Oh Sinnerman - Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach's original performance
for direct viewing on YouTube - including lyrics - click here
Carlebach's Music is very unique in its performance style and in the way Carlebach sang the songs.
Besides all that has been said in this chapter, it has one more prominent characteristic that deserves a separate chapter, because it hints at the audience that fell in love with him and his style, and the direction that all Hasidic music took.
This direction can signal cultural exclusion or cultural rapprochement. It depends on the eye of the beholder and the ear of the listener.
About this in the next chapter:
This is the Eighth chapter in the fascinating biography of the Hasidic singer Shlomo Carlebach – a pioneer and trailblazer who laid the foundation for today's Hasidic music genre.
To read all chapters of the series in the table of contents at the following link:
(10 chapters - separate link for each chapter)
Research, writing, and editing: Shlomi Rosenfeld